20/10/22
Two new investigators - Laura Pellegrini and Dimitar Kostadinov - are set to join the CDN as group leaders over the next year, after both winning the prestigious new Career Development Awards from the Wellcome Trust.
Laura Pellegrini is a neuroscientist specialising in organoids and has established a protocol to generate choroid plexus organoids with self-contained cerebrospinal-spinal fluid (Pellegrini et al., 2020, Pellegrini et al. b, 2020). The Pellegrini lab will explore the development of the choroid plexus and the dynamic regulation of cerebrospinal fluid in both health and disease. Dr Pellegrini’s work enhances our work on human neurodevelopment at the Centre and will provide ample opportunities for collaboration, both within the Centre and the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Laura will join the CDN in autumn 2023.
Dimitar Kostadinov specialises in neural computation and his recent work has focused on defining the diversity of learning signals conveyed to the cerebellum (Kostadinov et al., 2019, Kostadinov & Häusser, 2022). At the CDN, the Kostadinov lab will seek to understand how cerebellar circuits collaborate with the neocortex and basal ganglia in the learning and execution of goal-directed behaviour . Dr Kostadinov’s research enhances our work on neural circuits and brings many new opportunities for synergies and collaboration. Dimitar will join us in spring 2023.
Next year will be an exciting year for the Centre. Drs Pellegrini and Kostadinov are notably different yet complementary scientists who will bring a range of new expertise and techniques to the Centre.
